According to a study released last week, the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) proposed rules on livestock marketing could cost 140,000 Americans their jobs and reduce the national gross domestic product by $14 billion. The study, conducted by John Durham and Associates on behalf of the American Meat Institute, is the first to quantify the proposal’s potential impact.
The study indicated livestock producers would be especially hard hit by the rule, losing as many as 21,274 jobs. Fewer producers would result in a decrease in supply and an increase in the cost of meat for consumers. Under the proposed rule, the study showed consumers would pay about 3.33% more for the same amount of meat and poultry they currently purchase. This price increase would result in a 1.68% drop in consumer demand.
Kansas alone could lose as many as 1,380 jobs if the proposed GIPSA rule were implemented. More than 180 of those jobs would come directly from the livestock producer segment. Three hundred would come from companies in the state that produce, process, distribute and sell meat and poultry products. The remaining 900 jobs would come from the supplier and ancillary industries, including companies providing livestock and services to processers, distributors and retailers, as well as those that depend on retail meat and poultry sales.
“As the analysis shows, these are not just jobs in meat packing or livestock production, but in nearly every sector of the American economy,” said AMI President and CEO Patrick Boyle. “This is, quite simply, reckless regulation.”